Frédéric Chopin has long been recognized as one of the most significant and individual composers of the Romantic age. His birth date is a matter of controversy; the town registration of his birth specifies February 22, but Chopin always gave the date as March 1. His birthplace was the village of Zelazowa Wola near Sochaczew, in the region of Mazovia. His father, Mikolaj Chopin, was French, his mother, Tekla Justyna Krzyzanowska, Polish. He was raised in Warsaw by a family that mingled with intellectuals and members of the middle and upper classes, and as a teenager he spent summers in the country, where he was exposed to Polish folk music. By the age of eight he was recognized as a child prodigy, performing in elegant salons and beginning to write his own pieces. From 1823 to 1826, Fryderyk attended the Warsaw Lyceum where his father was one of the professors. He spent his summer holidays in estates belonging to the parents of his school friends in various parts of the country.
In 1826 he enrolled at the University of Warsaw. He gave his first recital in Vienna in 1829, and over the next few years he performed at home and through much of German and Austria as well as in Paris. Feeling limited in Warsaw and uncomfortable with the publicity surrounding his performances there, Chopin arrived in Paris in 1831 where he met many fellow countrymen. He settled in Paris in 1832 and established himself as an exorbitantly paid piano teacher. In Paris he composed extensively, but limited his performances mainly to private salons. He became a popular teacher among the Polish and French aristocracy and Parisian salons were his favorite place for performances. As a pianist, Chopin was ranked among the greatest artists of his time, but, in contrast to them, he disliked public performances and appeared rarely and rather unwillingly. In a friendly, intimate group of listeners he disclosed his supreme talents.
In 1838 he began an affair with French novelist George Sand. The couple, along with Sand’s children, spent a harsh winter in Majorca, where Chopin’s health plummeted and he was diagnosed with consumption (tuberculosis). Chopin settled in with Sand in France, composing steadily although his increasing perfectionism slowed his output. By the mid-1840s, though, his health and romantic situation both had deteriorated. The affair ended in 1847 after, among other things, Sand had portrayed their relationship unflatteringly in her 1846 novel Lucrezia Floriani. Chopin then made an extended visit to the British Isles, but returned to Paris to die in 1849. His rapidly progressing disease made it impossible to continue giving lessons. In the summer of 1849, Ludwika Jedrzejewiczowa, the eldest sister of the composer, came from Warsaw to take care of her ill brother. On October 17, 1849, Chopin died of pulmonary tuberculosis in his Parisian flat in the Place Vendôme. He was buried in the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris. In accordance with his will, however, his heart, taken from his body after death, was brought by his sister to Warsaw where it was placed in an urn installed in a pillar of the Holy Cross church in Krakowskie Przedmiscie.
Excerpts taken from classicalarchives.com
